Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s speech at the launch of multiple development initiatives in Rajkot, Gujarat
How are you all the people of Rajkot?
Are you happy?
Recently, you organized a tremendous festival of Navratri. You got this opportunity to celebrate after two years. How is the preparation for Diwali? I can already see your Diwali preparations. Today, Rajkot is all decked up. Can anybody imagine that Navratri and Vijayadashami festivals are just over and you must have been tired of playing ‘Garba’, still you are waiting for Dhanteras and preparing for Diwali? The New Year is round the corner and small traders have so much to do and still Rajkot has organized such a grand event. I salute Rajkot for welcoming and honouring me with so much love and blessings.
Diwali to us means accounting for everything done throughout the year and New Year means beginning of a new resolution and the tendency to move forward with determination. I am presenting you Diwali gifts in the form of several projects which have been completed today in the entire Saurashtra, including Rajkot. The projects whose foundation stones have been laid today are in a way the foundation for new resolutions. Many such projects related to connectivity, industry, water, facilities for people etc will make Rajkot very powerful. The citizens’ lives will become easier.
A new campaign was launched to build houses at six places in the country by using the world's best technology. Rajkot was one of them. And 1144 houses have been made here by using new technology. The speed and technology with which these houses have been built in spite of the Corona crisis shows good work is possible if there is good governance, commitment and concern for the needs of the people. Congratulations to the Minister in the Government of India, Hardeep Singh Puri, and the Chief Minister of the Government of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai and his team, and Rajkot for these houses.
Today, I especially congratulate the mothers and sisters who have become the owners of these beautiful houses made with the new technology. Let’s pray that Goddess Lakshmi reside in your houses which have been built around Diwali. I was asking everybody about the house while I was handing over the keys. The satisfaction on their faces summed up everything regarding the houses. Otherwise, it is better not to mention the government houses. But there is a government now which is accountable to the people.
In the last 21 years, we have dreamed together, taken many steps and have achieved the pinnacle of many accomplishments. And for me, Rajkot was my first school. Like Mahatma Gandhi was fortunate that he was born in Porbandar and got schooling in Rajkot. Similarly, I was fortunate to be born in North Gujarat and my first stint in the power and politics began from Rajkot. Look at the power of the land of Rajkot. It blessed Gandhiji and today Gandhiji has become an inspiration for us. Similarly, you blessed me and it has been two decades and my responsibility is ever increasing. This is the power of the blessings of Rajkot.
Our Vajubhai  vacated his seat and I was sent to Rajkot and you adopted me. This journey began with your blessings and today this journey has become an opportunity to take the development of Gujarat and the country to new heights. I can never repay this debt of Rajkot. I am indebted to you. Now that I am in your midst, I bow my head and offer these development projects to you with complete dedication, brothers.
I learned a lot from you as a student. I understood a lot and what Rajkot has taught me is proving useful to the country today, brothers. Today, the rules and regulations of Gujarat are discussed. Navratri festival was being celebrated when players from all over the country came to Gujarat for the biggest sports event in the country. Most of the players spoke with me on the phone and many others shared their experience in Gujarat on social media that there was no fear or apprehension even if the girls and sisters were going anywhere in the night wearing gold ornaments. People coming from all over the country were surprised when they experienced all these things in Rajkot and in Gujarat.
This is the result of giving priority to the rule of law. Otherwise, what was the situation here in Rajkot and the entire Saurashtra? During the days of Jana Sangh, our Chimanbhai Shukla and Suryakantbhai Acharya had formed a committee against the anti-social elements and launched a campaign. I was not in politics then. The Jana Sangh had fought against these anti-social elements in Rajkot and the entire Saurashtra.
Today, there is proper law and order and peace after the formation of the BJP government. Today every section of the society is enjoying the freedom from the anti-social elements whether it is criminals, mafia, terrorists or the gangs of usurpers. Peace, harmony and unity have become the guarantee of a bright future of the children in the mind of every parent. And there is very hard work behind this. Today I feel very proud and happy, brothers.
We have been making this kind of progress continuously. We have made constant efforts in the last few decades so that our Gujarat becomes more capable. We always encouraged the environment and atmosphere needed for that. Today Gujarat is progressing at a fast pace as a result of the efforts of the government.
We continued with the mantra of developed Gujarat for a developed India and prosperous Gujarat for a prosperous India. We launched the Vibrant Gujarat campaign and invited people from all over the world for investment. We also organized Krishi Mahotsav. This Krishi Mahotsav would continue for a month during the hot summers. Today, the state, where agriculture was not possible as there used to be famines, is producing enough food grains. This state has attracted the attention of the people of India by achieving agricultural growth of 9 -10 percent. Garib Kalyan Melas are held in Gujarat to empower the poor. We have seen that when the poor and the middle class people are empowered, the whole society gathers momentum. And on top of it, if there is a roof over your head, when you get your own house, it leads to the beginning of a respectable life. Everybody has a desire to have his own house.
Your government has launched several schemes for the middle class and the poor people to build their own house. The house should be such that one can enjoy living in it. It should have toilets, electricity, water, gas, internet connectivity, optical fiber network, etc to meet the needs of modern life.
An ordinary human being coming out of poverty through his hard work gets trapped in the cycle of poverty again if anybody in the family falls ill. In such an event, a poor family is forced to beg. But if there is health security in our society, then that poor becomes free from worries. Keeping this in mind, we implemented the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or PM-JAY. Now under the PM-JAY scheme, free treatment to the tune of five lakh rupees is also being given. And this scheme is benefiting crores of people, brothers.
Brothers and sisters,
Slogans of ‘gareebi hatao’ and ‘roti-kapda’ became very popular. These slogans were so irresponsible that we would eat half a chapati, but would ensure so many things. It continued for several decades. But I said these are mere slogans and I have to change your life. We don’t need half a chapati but proper food. Your life should be such that you are able to feed a hungry person if he comes to your house. These people made palaces for themselves by joining politics, but never cared about the houses for the poor. I launched a country-wide campaign to provide pucca houses to the poor.
There is a force behind this. Today, Rajkot and all of Gujarat have earned a name for setting up industries. I remember giving a speech several years ago when I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Several years ago, I predicted that the entire stretch of Morbi, Rajkot and Jamnagar would become mini-Japan soon. At that time, people made fun of me. You tell me my brothers, did my prediction become true or not. Today Rajkot has become a centre of the engineering industry. I could see at that time that this entire region of Morbi, Rajkot and Jamnagar had the strength to propel Gujarat to the top.
Brothers and sisters,
As far as the promise of giving houses to the people, we have provided more than three crore pucca houses to the people in villages and cities in the last eight years. Out of the promised 10 lakh pucca houses for Gujarat, seven lakh houses have already been handed over to the people. I congratulate Bhupendrabhai and his team for doing this work to take Gujarat forward. I admire him for his concern not only for the poor, but for the middle class people as well. We have secured the dreams of the middle class people by enacting RERA.
We have given 11,000 crore rupees to the middle class people in Gujarat so that they can build their own houses. There is so much work happening in Gujarat that now laborers have to be brought from outside. We are also planning houses for these workers so that they do not face any problem in their life.
We don’t build the way houses were made during the tenure of the previous governments. We don’t do any favour. We do all these works so that you become self-reliant and prosperous. There is a multi-dimensional approach in whatever we do. This Light House project in Rajkot is part of our continuous efforts to make our society powerful and fulfill the dreams of independent India.
This Light House project in Rajkot is a kind of a model for the country. Everybody, including engineering students, university students and people working in the real estate sector, are going to benefit from the Light House project of Rajkot. This will pave the way for new houses for millions of poor and middle class families. We are also making plans for the rapid progress of Rajkot in a modern way by speeding up infrastructure projects and connecting the entire Saurashtra. We are working to bring revolutionary changes, brothers and sisters.
There should be self-reliance in the country through the use of modern technology. We have launched a campaign so that people can also emulate this in their life. We are training the youth and encouraging them to come up with new start-ups.
Friends,
Development does not mean building roads, markets, malls and plazas in the cities. Urban life has a great responsibility, and it is also an opportunity to fulfill this responsibility and also a new dimension for development. We have also taken care of street vendors and vegetable sellers. We have ensured that they can get loans from banks without any guarantee. We have ensured that they can get loans under the SVANidhi Yojana easily.
Brothers and sisters,
Today you can see Digital India emerging as a major force. We introduced the cheapest internet in the world and today the street vendor also makes digital transactions. We can see many such things in Gujarat and Gujarat is getting its benefits, brothers. Not only this, its effect is also growing.
Small Scale Industries or the MSMEs have done a great job for the development of Rajkot. There is hardly any place in the country where pumps and machine tools made here are not available. Several brands like Falcon Pump, Phil Marshals, Angel Pump, Rotec Engineering, Jalganga Pump, Silver Pump, Rotec Pump, Siddhi Engineers, Gujarat Forging, Top Land, etc have reached every nook and corner of India. These are also being exported. Rajkot has created this power.
Today, the spare parts for the automobile industry that has grown in India are made in Rajkot. What can be more pride than this that a car which is made in Gujarat is imported by Japan and its spare parts are made in Rajkot. There was a time when Gujarat did not even manufacture bicycles. And mark my words, the day is not far when a plane will be made in Gujarat and spare parts of the plane will also be made in Rajkot.
Rajkot has done wonders in the last two decades, brothers and sisters. A new history has been written in the last two decades. A study by a university shows that Rajkot has exported engineering products worth five lakh crore rupees. This is the power of Rajkot which is brightening the future of the youth. As a result, people are getting many jobs as well.
Our Morbi is also doing wonders. Ceramic tiles of Morbi have become famous all over the world today. About 13 percent of the ceramic work of the world is happening in Morbi alone. And hence, Morbi is being recognized as the Town of Export Excellence, brothers. Walls, floors, bathrooms, toilets, etc are incomplete without Morbi, brothers. It can’t be done without Morbi. When Morbi was flooded and fishes were badly affected, no one could have imagined that Morbi would rise again. Today, Morbi is raising others, brothers.
I remember Morbi was on the take-off stage at that time. I realized that Morbi could do wonders if gas reaches there. We laid the pipeline of industrial gas and gave new strength to Morbi. Today investment of 15,000 crores for the ceramic park in Morbi is big news. The growth of different industries in Gujarat in the last 20-22 years has led to several benefits. The new industrial policy announced by Bhupendrabhai's government is also going to benefit the new generations in the coming days.
Brothers and sisters,
Along with traditional industries, there are many possibilities emerging in Rajkot, Saurashtra and Gujarat, brothers. I feel extremely proud and satisfied when I have come here to offer so many projects to you. I am once again grateful to Rajkot for the warm welcome you have accorded me. I will forever be indebted to Rajkot and will not miss any opportunity to serve Rajkot. With this belief, once again many congratulations to all of you and best wishes.
Thanks!
Disclaimer: The original speech of the Prime Minister is in Gujarati language, which has been translated here.